Tag Archives: CPD

Journeying Together: A Second CAT Research Conference

3rd December 2018UncategorisedCAT, cogniive analytic therapy, Continuing Professional Development, CPD, Evidence Base, evidence based practice, Psychotherapy Research, Research, researchersrhona

Plans for a second research conference hosted jointly between ourselves and ACAT have now come to fruition. ACAT is leading on the organisation of this second event – The Research Journey From Start To Finish: Motivating-to-Motivated – which takes place in London on 1 March 2019. Again this conference aims to bring together people interested in hearing about and developing the evidence base for cognitive analytic therapy.

You’ll be welcome to attend whether you want to gain an update on current and future research in CAT, make connections and develop your research networks, or get support in developing your own research ideas. Those with roles supporting the research activity of others are also most welcome to attend. This could be a useful day to attend if you are a research tutor or supervisor on a core professional training. Similarly if you have responsibility for supporting psychotherapy research activity within a mental health or learning disabilities trust, you may make helpful connections.

The theme of a research journey was present throughout last year’s conference. People shared stories of projects at different points along the way and reflected on what had helped or hindered them complete different stages. Alison Jenaway’s guest blog about the 2018 conference tells you more about that day.

When thinking about an image to help promote the 2019 event, we liked the metaphor of migrating geese. Apparently they fly together to help reduce air-drag and conserve energy. Different flock members move in and out of the front position depending on who has energy and resources to lead. Of course following is as important as leading in this context. We share a direction and learn from each other. As peers we can reciprocally motivate with helpful “honking” in order to keep up a pace.

Of course none of this precludes solo flyers who want to take their own direction. After all, would CAT ever have developed without a bit of independent thinking?

We’re not content, of course, with merely developing a metaphor or an understanding of relational processes in research. As with the CAT model, some action is expected and encouraged. To support concrete action getting “off the ground”, this year ACAT is offering three free places for people planning a project on CAT.

To be considered for one of these places, you’re invited to share a maximum 2000 word outline of a realistic project you can take forward, complete and publish. This should include:

Your main research question
Why it is important
The method you are planning to use to answer it
Any previous work or publications that you would be building on
The next steps you intend to take to get the project off the ground

The deadline for submissions is 10 January 2019. If you’re successful we may be able to match you with a mentor from within the CAT community or related networks. We will of course welcome you back to present at a future CAT research conference.

Whether or not you wish to apply for a free place, you can get some inspiration from the list of presentations lined up for the day, offered by Stephen Taylor, Barney Dunn, Steve Kellett, Steve Jefferis, Liza Messing and Samantha Hartley. Topics include integrative models for nurse supervision, learning from research into other therapies, making use of data on CAT in IAPT, qualitative research into mapping, group interventions, and coproduction with young people around brief therapy for self harm.

You can also follow the hashtag #CATres19, and add to it with any queries and comments. Please also feel free to share any links or resources you think may be useful in the run up to the conference.

We look forward to seeing you there.

For more details and to book your place at the conference – The Research Journey From Start To Finish: Motivating-to-Motivated – visit ACAT’s event page at this link

Inviting Applications for a Lead for our Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Programme

8th August 2018UncategorisedContinuing Professional Development, CPD, job opportunityrhona

Are you interested in leading our Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme as a member of the Catalyse Executive group? Then read on:

Catalyse is a not-for-profit social enterprise offering training, therapy and consultancy through a network of experienced therapists and trainers based across the North of England. We have developed as an organisation through a core group of colleagues working together for over twenty years since setting up the first North of England CAT Practitioner course. Catalyse functions in an open and accountable way and is overseen by an Executive Committee who agree direction and priorities, and co-ordinate Catalyse activities, on which particular Executive members lead. In addition, a larger network of Catalyse Associates provide services.

We need a CAT trained therapist to lead and develop the organisation of our CPD programme of events across the North.

Key aspects of the CPD lead role include:

liaising with the CAT community to generate needs and ideas;
including strategic thinking with the course team for a programme of consolidation events for post practitioner training;
liaising with presenters and carrying through the planning, costing, advertising, delivery and evaluation of the programme with administrative support.

As CPD lead you would be a full member of the Catalyse Executive contributing to the broader aims of Catalyse which has work streams delivering the CAT Practitioner course; Personal Reformulations for CAT Skills and Foundation courses and other professionals, Sheffield CAT Psychotherapy Practice; varied bespoke Projects in CAT teaching, research and evaluation; Café CAT and a new work-stream in Organisational Consultancy.

We are hoping to recruit someone who has good interpersonal skills, is collaborative and responsive, who works well in a group and who wants to contribute to CAT developments in the North.

Interested?

The CPD lead role does require flexible working of approximately 30 hours over a year and attendance at meetings and email to support the business of the Executive. See role description (download below) for more information.

Apply?

Closing date for applications is Friday 14th September, 5pm

Please submit the application form (download below), a brief CV and a personal supportive statement of up to 750 words to say why you are interested in this role and what you feel you can bring to the future of CAT in the North.

CPD Lead Downloads

Catalyse-CPD-Lead-Advert.pdf CPD-lead-role-description.docx Catalyse-CPD-Application-Form-2018.doc

Bringing Home Some Gold to Café CAT

2nd July 2018UncategorisedACAT, ACAT conference, Cafe CAT, CAT Cognitive Analytic Therapy, Continuing Professional Development, CPDrhona

Would you like to share, or hear about, some “golden nuggets” from this year’s ACAT conference in Keele? Come along to Café CAT Manchester on Wednesday 25th July where we’ll be bringing back some highlights and opening these up for discussion whether you attended or not.

The twenty-fourth annual ACAT conference is almost upon us, taking place between the 5th and 7th of July in Keele. Conference themes include therapist authenticity, creativity, and use of positive resources in cognitive analytic therapy.

Clive Turpin is offering a workshop there about Café CAT. This will include an introduction to the concept and history of the meetings, and also an experiential taster of its conversational approach. To quote from the workshop outline:-

“Clive will introduce the topic and encourage the voices of others to contribute on the subject of therapist authenticity. This provides a valuable and rich opportunity to explore the topic as a group through conversation, rather than presenting a specific idea or approach in a usual workshop format. We don’t know where the conversation will go, which is both curious and exciting.”

The conference will be followed by some Café CAT reciprocation on 25th July – an opportunity for anyone attending the conference to feed back highlights, key learning and ideas to share with the CAT community in the north. As usual these will be a springboard to conversation, and we hope a nice way to cascade proceedings even if you couldn’t make it to the conference this year. Please come along if you’d like to hear, or share, these “golden nuggets” and develop the conversation.

This will be the fourth Café meeting and we’ll also be reviewing how it’s developing and future directions.

Looking forward to seeing you there at Z-arts, Hulme, Manchester. The meeting will start at 6.15 pm and end at 8.15 pm; £5 on the door.

More information about Café CAT is at this link, or you can contact us to find out more.

Café CAT: The Story So Far

20th February 2018UncategorisedCafe CAT, Cafe Psychologique, CAT Tools, CPD, NHS Therapy Work, Private Therapy Work, Statesrhona

As the third Café CAT meeting approaches on 25th April, Clive Turpin reflects on the first two meetings and possibilities for future directions it might take.

Café CAT was inspired by the established approach of Café Psychologique that presents a topic for an open conversation. Café Psychologique meetings in various locations have included mortality, loneliness, music, amongst many many others. It was a priority for Catalyse to promote and support an alternative informal CPD opportunity to those interested in and working with cognitive analytic therapy that also served to bring people together with a shared curiosity and interest.

So far Café CAT has met on October and January 2017 and the next is planned for 25th April 2018. I’m really pleased that we have a new voice for this one, Suzanne Riddell, who wants to explore the topic of similarities and differences between NHS and private therapy work. Do they each carry particular impressions and expectations? What’s the view from “inside” or “outside” of one or the other? What are our experiences and where does the reality lie?

The maiden Café CAT’s title was “What state are we in?” which focused on how we think about, approach and integrate states into our work. To get the Café underway I presented the first two topics with the hope that we could encourage others to get involved. At the first event I took a slightly more active approach in leading the session to get things going. It was great to get two new voices of Vikki and Lucinda to put a blog together sharing their experience of the evening.

Next up was “Exploring the tools of CAT and what’s kept post training” in January this year. After introducing the topic we quickly moved into a more conversational approach, which was the original aim of the Café. We were also in a cosier room which no doubt impacted on the feel as we were all sat around a double table arrangement, compared to the large open space before. The conversation went in all kinds of directions and opened up new ideas, highlighted some differences and left us all with new some things to consider.

One of the things that I find most exciting about these open conversations is that you don’t know where it’s going to go and what you’ll encounter. Each event has left me with a lot to reflect on and influenced my practice thereafter. In addition to this I’m getting to meet new people and those that I haven’t seen for a while. It’s like a social win, a professional practice win, and a general brain/mind win and obviously a great way to connect with others.

I’m really keen to promote and keep new voices active within the Café. I’ve got lots of ideas myself, however a variety of voices and differing views are so enriching. So as well as a summary on the Café so far this is also an active invite to bring something that you feel passionate or curious about or interested in and want to sound out an idea or experience with others. This would be greatly welcomed to keep Café CAT open and diverse, so if you have an idea get in touch and we’ll see if we can get it into the Café schedule.

We’re also interested in this developing in other areas, such as Sheffield, Leeds and Liverpool, (as well as other areas of Manchester) where there are large CAT communities.

Here are a few ideas for some future Café CAT meetings:

Research in CAT: challenging myths and reflecting on what we might have to contribute
Storytelling: How we tell them, the importance of them, who they’re meant for
Social media: the impact and how this comes into or bumps against therapy
Experiences of learning and teaching CAT: trainees, practitioners, psychotherapists
Attending to and working with feelings in CAT
Creativity, play and playfulness in CAT
Adapting CAT for different client groups (eg children, people with learning disabilities)

Contact Clive for more information or to share ideas about future Cafe CAT meetings. You can follow him on Twitter at @Clive_Turpin. You can also follow tweets about the Café through its hashtag #CafeCatalyse. Otherwise join Suzanne Riddell and other northern CAT colleagues by coming along to the next meeting.

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Photo by Angelina Litvin on Unsplash